Snacks

A friend and I were sharing ideas & recipes for healthy homemade snacks today and I thought I would share a couple of things that I have had some success with:

Honey Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

raw shelled pumpkin seeds (enough to spread on a sheet pan)
1 egg white
generous "squirt" of honey
cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss the pumpkin seeds in the egg white, honey, and cinnamon. Spread on a sheet pan and roast about 10 minutes, until crunchy. If you spread them in bunches, they will bake in "pieces", otherwise spread out in a thin layer. Whatever you like. Other than overbaking them, you really can't mess this one up.

Homemade NoBake Granola Bars

2 cups oats
3/4 c hemp seeds
3/4 c sunflower seeds
1 c pumpkin seeds
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c honey
4 Tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt
dried fruit (if desired)

If you want to toast the oats, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds first, preheat oven to 400F and spread them out in a baking sheet with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so they don't burn.

Prepare a 10x13 glass baking dish by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, vanilla, butter, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.

Mix the seeds, grains, dried fruit, and "glue" together thoroughly and pour out mixture into your lined baking dish. Fold over the waxed paper sides or add a piece on top and press hard to compact so the bars won't fall apart when you cut them.

Wait until the granola has fully cooled, open the waxed paper, lift out the granola, and cut into bars of desired size. I like to individually wrap them with plastic wrap so they are ready to go when you need them.

Roasted Chickpeas

I haven't made these yet, but they SOUND really good and the blog post that contains the recipe is really funny!

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2008/04/roasted-chickpeas-wrong-way-right-way.html

Enjoy! Who needs to spend big money on high-protein, healthy, delicious snacks? And they only take minutes to prepare!